A former Richmond Sanitary District employee accused of stealing more than $825,000 says 11 of 16 charges against her should be dismissed.
Jennifer Wilson, 48, was charged last November with eight counts of theft — seven as Level 5 felonies for the years 2017 through 2023 and one as a Level 6 felony for 2016 — and eight counts of official misconduct, all as Level 6 felonies, for the years 2016 through 2023. The former accounts payable clerk is accused of shorting cash deposits by $825,819.74 during a 6 1/2-year period from 2016 through 2023.
The motion to dismiss says the statute of limitations on the Level 5 and 6 felonies is five years; therefore, the theft and official misconduct counts for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 should be dismissed. It also says that all eight official misconduct charges should be dismissed.
The motion says that official misconduct can only be committed by a public servant, and Wilson, as a clerk, did not qualify as a public servant. It claims she was neither elected nor appointed to public office and did not perform an “official function” of the sanitary district.
A person can be considered a public servant if the person is “authorized to perform an official function on behalf of, and is paid by a governmental entity,” according to the motion.
Judge Ronald Moore has scheduled a hearing on the motion for 3:45 p.m. Feb. 10 in Superior Court 1.
Investigations into Wilson’s actions began after an anonymous caller reported May 15, 2023, that Wilson was taking cash from the sanitary district. A State Board of Accounts investigation detailed the days sanitary district cash deposits were short and found $173,750 in cash deposits to Wilson’s private account made on 243 of those days.
In her job, Wilson received cash from sanitary district transactions, finalized daily cash deposits, filled out a daily recap report about money received and made the deposits. She provided the city controller’s office with the recap report and deposit slip.
Wilson was fired June 30, 2023. When interviewed by a Richmond Police Department detective, she denied taking hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A version of this article appeared in the February 5 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.